My
present employer is the French CNRS
(le centre nationale de la recherche scientifique), which employs approximately
11.000 researchers that produce knowledge, and put this knowledge at the
service of society in various ways. The CNRS is the analogue of the American
NSF and numerous other national research organizations. The CNRS dispatched
me to the ENS (Ecole Normale
Supérieure) to study the laws of nature and the mathematics in
which they are most easily expressed. At the ENS, I am a member of a mixed
group of theoretical physicists either paid by the ministry of education
and research, or by the CNRS. Together with our supporting staff, we form
the Laboratoire de Physique Théorique, the LPT.
Our laboratory is closely linked to the UPMC (Université Pierre et Marie Curie). My job consists of research, teaching, training, administration, vulgarisation, and many other tasks.